This Week in Cruise: Three Key Cruise Industry Events

This week in cruise news consortia and other industry organizations released reports on a slate of cruise-focused events that took place recently.

At cruise3sixty, Nexion hosted its first-ever Idea NEXchange Summit, which brought together over 40 top travel agents with leaders from Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean International. Business growth strategies and networking were included, as well as a small group collaboration, which required Nexion travel agents to take a real-world scenario or issue, provided by the supplier partner in their group, and discuss it from six points of views to fully address the topic from all angles.

“Creating a forum for new and longtime travel agents to work together, problem solve and innovate was eye-opening and incredibly productive for everyone involved,” said Nexion President Jackie Friedman. “Our supplier partners also gained new insights by spending time with seasoned agents and learning from their experiences. Because of the tremendous success of this summit, this format is something we plan to replicate for future events.”

Escorted by Diane Curchy Horan, manager of national accounts and business development for AmaWaterways, 17 out of 20 members from Circle of Excellence attended the weeklong cruise, as well as executives from the CruiseOne leadership team including Senior Vice President Debbie Fiorino, General Manager of Network Engagement and Performance Drew Daly and Vice President of Information Technology Sandi Szalay. The voyage ended with a celebratory dinner with special guests Kirsten Karst, executive vice president and co-owner of AmaWaterways, and Brad Tolkin, co-ceo/chairman of CruiseOne’s parent company World Travel Holdings.

“This was the first time we hosted this cruise as a thank you for their commitment, support and of course to celebrate their noteworthy achievements. The intimate setting and relaxed atmosphere aboard a river cruise gave us the opportunity to strengthen our relationships and build friendships with our franchisees,” said Debbie Fiorino, senior vice president of CruiseOne.

The awards presentation included Cruise Holidays’ Golden Anchor, President’s Circle, Top Overall Producer and Outstanding Sales Achievement awards. At the start of this year, Cruise Holidays officially became a division within Vacation.com.